Dinosaur Valley State Park

We stayed at Dinosaur Valley State Park just outside of Glen Rose, Texas, from August 9 - 12. We decided to stop there to break up our trip from Lake Livingston SP to San Angelo. When pulling our trailer, I don't care to drive more than 5 or 6 hours a day, so Dinosaur Valley was a good place to break up the trip. Also, since my brother lives in Ft. Worth, it was convenient for him to come down for a short visit.

The park contains 1524.72 acres along the clear running Paluxy River. The terrain is wooded-hilly- and semi-rocky and contains a variety of trees. At the time of our visit, the river was way down with limited wading and swimming opportunities.

The park is significant for the collection of dinosaur tracks found along the river bed. There are actually 4 areas along the river where dinosaur tracks have been found. These are clearly indicated on the park map. Sauropod (round) and therapod tracks (three-toed) were left in the soft mud of the shallow sea that once covered this part of Texas. The tracks are considered the finest examples of such tracks in the world, and scientists have been able to learn much about dinosaurs by studying these tracks. Signs are prevalent at all track sites and are worth the time they take to read.

Sauropod trackway, with Donna standing nearby for size comparison (track site #2)

Therapod track with 3 toes pointing right; this example is from track site #4

Paluxy River is way down at Track Site #2, where the largest collection of tracks can be found

The dinosaur tracks are not the only attraction in the park, though. The Paluxy River provides swimming in various areas, especially the Blue Hole in the western side of the park. The park also contains a number of trails for hikers and mountain bikers. There's just a lot to do in this park.

The Blue Hole; there are dinosaur tracks on a ledge just above this swimming hole

This was our first time to camp in the park. We normally try to stay in parks that provide full hookups. However, since we only planned to spend 3 nights, we did not really need full hookups since we have 40 gallon holding tanks. We stayed in site 44, and we enjoyed the site. It is right next to the playground in the campground, though, so it can get a bit noisy. We enjoy watching children play, though, so that was not a concern for us.

Our campsite, #44

Every site in the park seems to have at least some shade, and some are in full shade. Should you consider staying at the park, be forewarned that some sites have longer pads than others; some sites will not accommodate longer rigs. The park was under a burn ban while we where there, so we were not able to enjoy the stone fireplace at the back of our site.

There was not WiFi in the park, at least that we could pick up from our site. Television reception on our antennae was also a bit weak.

As with many recreational parks, there was a party element at this park. On our first night, we were awakened after midnight by loud laughing from the next door playground. Some older teens decided to use it as a meeting place, much to our dismay.

Example of many informational signs located throughout the park

But I like this park, and I would like to go back some time when there is no burn ban, when school is in session, and during the work week, probably during the fall or spring. Weekends tend to draw crowds. Allow the better part of one day to view all dinosaur track sites if you read all the literature and give the tracks a careful study.

Good Eats: Sam's Original Restaurant and BBQ, Fairfield, Texas

I love BBQ. So whenever I pass through my hometown of Fairfield, Texas, I like to stop at Sam’s Original Restaurant and BBQ. Since they serve the BBQ I grew up eating, the BBQ at Sam’s is the standard I use to compare all BBQ. I had been dreaming of that BBQ for a long time, so when we passed through on August 9 on our way from Lake Livingston SP en route to Dinosaur Valley SP, I had to stop.

Most folks that stop at Sam’s eat the buffet. You’ll know why once you see it; it's an impressive spread. But the sliced beef BBQ dinner is what I always order. The meat is spread across a large plate and covered with a sweet BBQ sauce. BBQ aficionados often debate whether true BBQ should be served with or without sauce. Personally, I don't care -- I just like BBQ. But I do like Sam’s sauce. A thick slice of onion and several dill pickle slices accompany the meal. Two sides are also served. I always opt for the potato salad, which is the best I’ve ever had in a restaurant. I normally select pinto beans as my other side, but this time I chose peach cobbler. All meals come with a mini loaf of homemade bread.

Originally, the restaurant’s trademarks were its BBQ and homemade bread. Another of those original trademarks was its pies, with their fluffy, mile-high meringues and great taste. The pies are still there and are still as good as ever. My favorite as a child was banana.

If you pass through Fairfield, take an hour or so to visit Sam's. The menu is available online, as is the history. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

State Livingston SP: Hiking the Pineywoods Nature Trail

While staying at Lake Livingston State Park, I spent a little time hiking the available trails there. As I mentioned in my entry Lake Livingston State Park, some of the trails were closed, so my options were limited. However, I was able to hike the Main Trail, the Oak Flat Trail, and the Pineywoods Nature Trail, and I will post my reviews of these hikes on my blog.

This entry regards the Pineywoods Nature Trail. Please refer to the available online map of the park to see the trail.

Of the 3 trails I hiked at this park, this was certainly the most interesting. The entire trail is a boardwalk which both begins and ends at a trailhead in the northern part of the park. Some sections of the boardwalk are showing their age, repairs will need to be made soon.

Since I entered this trail from the Main Trail, I had to decide which way to go. I decided to loop counter-clockwise. Once I hit the trailhead, I then returned to the trail in the same direction to see the duck pond.

Wild Plum Creek

The first real landmark I came to was the water treatment plant, which suddenly appears in a clearing. It is quite a contrast after having been in the thick woods for the entire hike. According to park literature, the water treatment plant is a green facility that uses the natural environment to clean water.

Water treatment plant. You may not be able to tell, but those dark spots towards the left on the water surface are actually ducks.

Next came the Frog Pond, which is located on a short spur of the boardwalk.

Frog Pond spur

The murky Frog Pond

Just beyond the Frog Pond, the boardwalk crosses the Equestrian Trail. From this point, it is a short walk to the trailhead. The trailhead sits on the east side of a large parking lot, and it has 3 informational plaques. The two walkways you see in the picture below converge just beyond the structure. The trail on the left is handicapped accessible, while the trail on the right contains steps.

Pineywoods Nature Trail Trailhead

After reaching the trailhead, I then continued on the trail so that I could see the Duck Pond. On my way, I once again crossed the Equestrian Trail. As I approached the Duck Pond, I first came upon a Butterfly Garden. 

Butterfly Garden

The Butterfly Garden is located where the Boardwalk turns sharply south to connect to the Main Trail. Continue straight, and you will approach the Duck Pond. To the left is a bird blind.

Bird Blind

Just beyond the bird blind is the Duck Pond.

Duck Pond

After viewing the duck pond, I retraced my steps to the trailhead and continued my walk around the park.

State Livingston SP: Hiking the Main Trail

While staying at Lake Livingston State Park, I spent a little time hiking the available trails there. As I mentioned in my entry Lake Livingston State Park, some of the trails were closed, so my options were limited. However, I was able to hike the Main Trail, the Oak Flat Trail, and the Pineywoods Nature Trail, and I will post my reviews of these hikes on my blog.

This entry regards the Main Trail. Please refer to the available online map of the park to see the trail.

The Main Trail extends just over half a mile from the park headquarters and connects with the Pineywoods Nature Trail near the Duck Pond. It is a rather nondescript trail, but presently it is well maintained and in good shape.

Clear and wide trail through the woods

At the end of the trail, the boardwalk of the Pineywoods Trail appears.

End of the Main Trail

State Livingston SP: Hiking the Oak Flat Trail

While staying at Lake Livingston State Park, I spent a little time hiking the available trails there. As I mentioned in my entry Lake Livingston State Park, some of the trails were closed, so my options were limited. However, I was able to hike the Main Trail, the Oak Flat Trail, and the Pineywoods Nature Trail, and I will post my reviews of these hikes on my blog.

This entry regards the Oak Flat Trail. Please refer to the available online map of the park to see the trail.

The Oak Flat Trail is a short interpretive trail starting at the park headquarters building and ending near the start of the Main Trail.

Trailhead

The trail is a short hike of just under a third of a mile. Most of the trail is wide and clear, though there were a few overgrown areas.

Trail seems to disappear in the undergrowth

Two or three interpretive signs like the one below line the trail. They provide good information about the environment.

Signs along the trail such as this one provide interesting information about the environment.

There is a bird blind near the end of the trail.

Lake Livingston State Park

Lake Livingston State Park is located on the eastern shore of Lake Livingston, just southwest of the city of Livingston, Texas. The park consists of 635.5 acres dominated by loblolly pine and water oak, while Lake Livingston itself covers over 84,000 acres.

The park is really in a beautiful setting. In addition to a large fishing pier and at least 2 boat ramps, the park also has a park store, an amphitheater, riding stables, and a swimming pool.

Fishing pier; photo taken from observation tower next to park store

However, we will probably not return to this park.

First, some of the park, including 3 camping areas and portions of the trail system, are closed. I believe this is a result, in part, of Hurricane Ike, which was about 4 years ago. There are still numerous trees that were knocked down by the storm, and they are still working on removing them. In addition, I was told that the drought from last year killed a large number of trees, and they are trying to remove them at this time. Piney Shores, Red Oak, and Pin Oak Loop campgrounds were all closed during our stay. These 3 campgrounds account for about 100 campsites.

Downed trees along main park road

One of my main interests is hiking, so I was disappointed I was unable to hike all the trails of this park. Southern portions of the Livingston Trail are closed. On the day we arrived, the trailhead parking lot for the Pineywoods Nature Trail was taped off. However, a few days later, it was open.

The design of the campgrounds leaves much to be desired. It's obvious to me that whoever designed the campsites in this park knew little about RVs. On most RVs --though certainly not all -- utilities are usually located in the same general area. That is, water, sewer, and electric are located in general proximity to one another.

Location of utilities on my trailer: city water on left, sewer at bottom center, and electric on right.

At our campsite, the sewer connection was at the very end of the site, behind the far end of our trailer. The water, however, was in front of the trailer. The electrical was somewhere in between. Luckily, I've learned to have extra equipment on hand for such situations.

Utility connections: water at far left (post next to tree), electric pole in center, and sewer at far right.

Another design flaw is that the campsite driveways are almost at 90 degree angles to the roadway. This makes backing in with large rigs very challenging. Most parks have a gentler angle, perhaps a 135 or so degree angle, but Lake Livingston probably has an angle of about 100 to 110 degrees. And since the campsites come off a narrow one lane road, while an RV is attempting to back in, traffic can back up, as we witnessed on several occasions. I'm pretty good at backing a trailer, but it took me 2 or 3 tries before I was able to fit the trailer comfortably in the site.

And adding to this parking problem is a rather deep ditch running along both sides of the road. If you should miss your driveway, there is a bit of a drop off. There is little room for error, especially with all of the trees that line the site. And the campsites are so short in length that there is not enough room in some sites to park the tow vehicle. We saw several sticking out into the road.

Example of the ditch that runs along park road, and example of illegal parking that is tolerated at Lake Livingston SP

And my final gripe is that we saw no camp hosts at all. Most state parks -- in fact, all that we have visited in the past several years -- have hosts who live in the campgrounds. Hosts perform a number of duties, and their absence in this park was noticeable to us.

The park was pretty full over the weekend, and we enjoyed sitting out and watching kids be kids, riding their bicycles on the park roads and playing together. As the weekend drew to a close, most visitors drifted back to their regular lives, and the park emptied out. This was the time we enjoyed the most, for we then were able to really enjoy the natural qualities of the park.

Donna enjoying our camp; fire helps keep mosquitoes away

Random Travel Thoughts

We arrived at Lake Livingston State Park yesterday. I was surprised to find a WiFi connection here. There is a page on the Texas Parks and Wildlife website that lists parks with connectivity, and Lake Livingston SP is not listed. However, as the information on that page indicates, TPWD is in the process of adding WiFi to parks; obviously, Lake Livingston SP is one that has recently been added.

I'll review the park and provide pictures later. For now, I'll simply update our journey so far.

After leaving Omega Farms yesterday, we stopped briefly at Strouhal Tire Center just south of Willis on old Highway 75. Our trailer was due for inspection. The folks at Strouhal were quick and efficient, and we were only there for less than 30 minutes. The inspection cost a mere $14.50. Now we're legal for another year.

When we first checked into Omega Farms, I asked the attendant there if he knew of a place I could get the trailer inspected. The fact that RVs need to have an annual inspection sticker was news to him. He lived in a motor home in the park, and said he had never had his rig inspected.

I've had trouble finding inspection stations since owning the trailer. Last year, I called around San Angelo until we found a place. This year, after several frustrating calls -- few people seem to know where to get RVs inspected, and you can't get them inspected at just any inspection station -- I finally smartened up a bit and decided to consult the Texas Department of Public Safety, who has authority regarding vehicle inspections. So, here's a handy tidbit of information for any of you who can use it. There is a website where you can locate all types of inspection stations. Go to the Inspection Station Locator on the DPS website, and you can quickly find an inspection station near you. After performing a search, be sure to use the key at the top of the entry to determine which stations offer the type of inspection you need. In my case, I was looking for stations that offer a trailer certificate ("TL").

After the inspection, we took Highway 75 north through Willis and then to New Waverly. From there, we headed east on a series of state highways and FM roads to State Livingston SP. It really was a pretty drive, and Coldspring was an especially attractive little community, with numerous interesting shops located around the town square.

After setting up the trailer, we had some lunch and relaxed a while. Last night, we met Donna's half-sister and her family for supper and had a nice visit with them. They have a house on Lake Livingston, and we will visit them again while here.

Although we closed on our house July 23 and began our travels then, we have set July 27 as the official start of our travels because that is when we picked up our trailer from storage. Beginning with Omega Farms in Willis, I plan to keep a tally of travel data. I'll probably change the format as this progresses, but I thought it might be interesting to see our mileage, our costs, and other relevant information.

Mileage: 45 miles (Willis to Lake Livingston SP)
Lodging fees: $175 for 7 nights at Omega Farms; $99 for 6 nights at Lake Livingston SP
Gas cost: $15.07 @ $3.29 per gallon

Actually, I've kept a travel log since we purchased our trailer in late March 2010. Up to now, we've traveled a total of 5510 miles. Our total gas cost while pulling the trailer has been $2065. Our total lodging cost has been $2528. We have spent a total of 112 nights in our trailer. This calculates to a daily cost of roughly $41.

Now, that is an attractive figure, considering hotel rooms alone run much more than that. But remember there is a total cost of ownership when thinking about owning an RV. That total cost includes the purchase price of the trailer, insurance, maintenance, and other costs. If I were to include all of those figures, then my daily rate would be much higher.

But back to travel. I'll develop a format for tracking our travel data, and I'll probably put that information on the RV section of my website at some point.

I'll make the rounds in the park here over the next few days, take some pictures, and post a review of the park.